By all accounts, Erroll Flynn was a nasty man. You wouldn’t want him for a son in a law.

But when he's on screen as Robin Hood, Captain Blood and the ‘Sea Hawk,’ he’s the man I want to be: dashing, unflappable, idealistic and handsome.

Watching his early films I'm swept up by the marvelous film score music that sprang from the fertile pen of Erich Korngold.

Last winter I listened with a sigh, on line, to suites of those film scores. I wished that I could write music like that, i.e., music for a swashbuckling adventure film.

Then I asked myself, “What’s stopping you? Just do it!”

A few months earlier I had written my “Symphony for Seven Instruments” for an ensemble in Arizona consisting of flute, oboe, trumpet, piano and strings. I decided to write another piece for that same combination. This time, it would be an overture in the manner of Korngold, and thus, an homage to Korngold.

I studied his style, isolated the elements of it, fiddled around with those elements and watched in amazement as the overture took shape.

It begins with a fanfare, of course! Then comes a big romantic theme which develops flamboyantly and voluptuously. The fanfare returns and develops further. About two thirds of the way through the oboe quotes the opening motif of Korngold’s score for “King’s Row,” which was later borrowed, expanded and made famous by John Williams when he used it for Luke Skywalker’s theme in “Star Wars.”

I called this new overture, “The Swashbuckler.” I considered calling it, “The Sowash-buckler.” That would be funny, but it’s too cute, too flip. This piece is fun, but still a serious and carefully crafted piece of musical art.

I recruited seven of my “fans and friends” here in Cincinnati to perform the piece in a service at my church under the baton of Chris Miller, an ardent champion of my work who has done more of my music than anyone.

“The Swashbuckler” is not a title suitable for a church bulletin so I temporarily re-named the piece “Exuberance” and that is how it was listed in the bulletin.

A few nights later, the seven re-assembled to record the piece and the result is the music I hope to share with you today.

I submitted it to our local classical music radio station, WGUC, and they embraced it and will soon broadcast it. The music director wanted to know the name of the ensemble. Gulp. We hadn’t thought about a name. I replied, “The Cincinnati Seven,” echoing “The Magnificent Seven” but with more alliteration.

See below a photo of “The Cincinnati Seven” posing with the conductor Chris Miller and myself, seated. Note the broad smile on every face. Everyone had a blast playing this music. There was real joy in the experience and, afterward, they were beaming.

The same musicians have agreed to play another of my pieces in church this coming February, the first movement of the Symphony for Seven Instruments. I am hoping to get all four movements performed and recorded and eventually issued on a CD / album, a process that will take at least a year. Meanwhile, I am writing yet more music for this seven-instrument combination. I love it. It’s a miniature orchestra!

To hear “The Swashbuckler” performed by The Cincinnati Seven (flutist Julie Morris, oboist Yo Shionoya, trumpeter Joel Payne, pianist Beth Troendly, violinist Doug Hamilton, violist Rose Gowda and cellist Michael Ronstadt) under the direction of Chris Miller, click on the link above.

There's also a link to a PDF of the score.

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

Many of you, my friends and fans, are musicians.

If you are a musician, do you happen to play in a concert band? a.k.a. a wind ensemble? If you do, might your band’s director be interested in discovering and perhaps programming a new work I’ve composed for concert band?

It is titled “The Swashbuckler.” Duration: five minutes. A “level 5” in difficulty. Loud and exuberant and lots of fun. You might recall the piece because I shared it in one of my Sunday morning emails about a month ago. It was scored for a 7-piece chamber ensemble. But now I’ve expanded it into a piece for concert band.

If you play in a band, please reply with the director’s name and email address and I’ll follow up, offering to send a free score and set of parts for consideration. No charge.

(It is my policy nowadays to give away my life’s work, to the greatest extent possible, to anyone interested in discovering it.)